Neri Oxman and Bill Ackman attend the Olivia Tournay Flatto Legion of Honor Awards Ceremony and Dinner at the Park Avenue Armory on October 19, 2022 in New York City.
Sylvain Gaboury | Patrick McMullan | Getty Images
Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman and his wife Neri Oxman are buying a nearly 5% stake in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, the exchange reported in a news release on Wednesday.
The announcement came as the Israeli Stock Exchange announced the price of a secondary offering of 17,156,677 shares, or 18.5% of their market value, at 20.60 shekels ($5.50) per share, representing the purchase of Ackman and his wife's calculations put it at about $25 million, according to CNBC.
“The transaction attracted strong interest from investors across Israel, the United States, Europe and Australia and reflected a strong vote of confidence in both the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and the Israeli economy as a whole,” the statement said.
“High-profile buyers included Neri Oxman and Bill Ackman, who have agreed to acquire an approximately 4.9% stake in TASE.” The exchange plans to “use the net proceeds from this offering to invest in its technology infrastructure.” , added her.
Ackman, founder and CEO of New York-based Pershing Square Capital Management, has been a vocal supporter of Israel since the Hamas terrorist attack on the country on October 7, which triggered an Israeli ground invasion of the Gaza Strip. His wife, Oxman, is an American-Israeli architectural designer and professor.
According to a report by Bloomberg, the purchase is Ackman's first investment in Israel since the start of the war. Ackman, who is Jewish, became embroiled in a dispute with Harvard University – his alma mater – after more than 30 of its student groups signed a statement placing full blame for the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack, in which 1,200 people were killed and a further 240 hostages were taken to Israel.
Ackman called on the social media site X, formerly Twitter, for Harvard to publish the students' names so Wall Street employers wouldn't hire them. He then published on
Ackman later pushed for Gay's resignation, claiming the academic leader was guilty of plagiarism and not doing enough to address anti-Semitism at the university. After testifying at a heated congressional hearing about hate speech and anti-Semitism on campus, she managed to keep her job, but the controversy ultimately led to Gay's resignation in early January.
The hedge fund titan describes himself as both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel, writing in a late October post on But You Shouldn't Be. I am anti-terrorist, not anti-Palestinian. It is not contradictory to be pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian.”
He added: “My pro-Palestinian perspective began more than 30 years ago when I got to know the Palestinian community and its plight in the early 1990s,” and said he had “invested millions to support the economic development and peaceful coexistence of the Palestinian community.” to promote Palestinians.”
Correction: Bill Ackman and his wife's purchase would be about $25 million, according to CNBC's calculations. The number was incorrect in an earlier version.